Plans for new court facilities unveiled

Nine new court facilities will be built around the country as part of a multi-million euro revamp over the next two years, it was confirmed today.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell said €50m had been approved towards nine “greenfield” court projects as part of a Public Private Partnership.

“The Court Service now has my authorisation and approval to proceed to the procurement and planning stage with these schemes which I expect to see commence over the next 18 months,” Mr McDowell said.

The projects include full District and Circuit Court services for locations in the greater Dublin region and North Kildare, as well as in other areas around the country.

Mr McDowell said the sites were assessed and chosen as part of the Government’s National Spatial Strategy and were particularly important due to their expanding population, such as the North Kildare facility.

“The population of North Kildare is now equivalent to Limerick and continues to increase rapidly as does the level of litigation generated in the area,” he said. “The building of full court offices in the area will greatly reduce the inconvenience for people living in Celbridge, Maynooth and Leixlip who need access to the courts.”

Mr McDowell said the court office would provide a "one stop shop" dealing with everything from maintenance money to District and Circuit Court issues – and developers would shortly be invited to tender for the construction work.

Similar large projects will then be built in other major urban areas like Tallaght and Blanchardstown.

The nine priority projects under this Public Private Partnership initiative include a new Circuit and District Court building for Drogheda, the replacement of the inadequate District Court facility in Limerick at a Prison Service site at Mulgrave Street, as well as the construction of a new court at Anglesea Street in Cork.

Proposals have already been sought from developers to provide a site and construction work in Wexford, and a separate building will be built beside the existing courthouse in Waterford to provide additional space.

The Courts Service said new facilities were badly needed in Dublin’s Swords region to facilitate the rapidly expanding population.

The existing courthouse in Letterkenny, which has only two courtrooms, may be sold to raise funds as it is located in the town centre. The Courts Service is considering building a new facility on a greenfield site close to the town.

The facilities at Wicklow are currently being assessed to see if a new courthouse is required.